• Every day on average, 55 people kill themselves with a firearm, and 46 people are shot or killed in an accident with a gun.• A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used to kill or injure in a domestic homicide, suicide, or unintentional shooting than to be used in self-defense.• An average of seven children and teens under the age of 20 are killed by guns every day... 11 times as often as children in other high-income countries.• 90% Americans agree that we should have universal background checks, including 75% of NRA members.

Guns make it far more likely that domestic abuse will turn into murder. In fact, when a gun is present in a domestic violence situation, it increases the risk of homicide for women by 500%. And it's domestic violence - not terrorism, not a “disgruntled worker” - that actually drives the majority of mass shootings.

Gaps in our background check laws let prohibited domestic violence offenders easily evade background checks and buy guns from unlicensed sellers in most states. Many states lack adequate mechanisms to ensure domestic abusers who own guns turn them in when they become prohibited.

Unsecured Guns

It's estimated that up to 2 million children in America live in homes with unsecured guns. Seemingly every day, there's a news story about how a child was able to access one of these guns and cause harm to themselves or a family member.

To put it another way, in 2016, one was far more likely to be shot and killed by a toddler than by a terrorist. These needless, unintentional deaths are largely preventable if those that consider themselves responsible gun owners would exercise the same care to keep guns away from children as they do with their household cleaning supplies.

Suicide

Making up over 60% of the annual gun deaths in America, suicide by gun is often thought to be a "mental health issue", and therefore not part of the gun violence epidemic. The reality is that easy access to guns compounded by the impulsive nature of suicide has led to a crisis that claims nearly 22,000 Americans every year. Because of the unique lethality of firearms as a means of suicide, limiting access to firearms can save lives.

Further, the conventional wisdom that those who are suicidal but don't have access to a gun will "just find another way" isn't rooted in research. Upwards of 80% of those who attempt suicide using a means other than a gun don't go on to die by suicide.

Mass Shootings

A mass shooting, as defined by the FBI, is one where four or more people are killed. While this means that most incidents of domestic violence are technically mass shootings, the more visible events are the ones that take place in our schools, churches, temples, movie theaters, and shopping malls.

According to people who've been injured in a mass shooting or who've had a friend or family member murdered, these tragedies could not have been averted by the presence of more guns. The net effect would be more chaos and more injuries - not the thwarting of a meticulously-planned attack orchestrated by a suicidal, deranged individual.

Community Violence

Felons, convicted domestic abusers, and other groups of people at elevated risk of committing gun crimes are prohibited by law from buying or possessing firearms. However, traffickers are able to take advantage of our nation’s porous laws. They buy guns from lawful owners and transfer them to criminals - using the so-called "iron pipeline" and other routes, turning a profit and putting guns into dangerous hands.

There is no such thing as an "illegal gun." Every gun used in every crime passes through the hands of a legal gun owner. This speaks not to "good guys" or "bad guys", but to the weaknesses of our existing gun laws.